GHS opened in 1923, graduated its first class in 1924, and has a rich
diversity of alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and students. These "friends"
of GHS would like to give back to current and future members of the GHS
community.

Why create an Endowment?

Like most public school systems, the Seattle Public Schools are
struggling to educate an ever more diverse student body for an increasingly
complex world. A non-profit foundation with a board of trustees
to guide the raising and perpetuation of an endowment will provide an annual
stream of funds to support enhanced programs at GHS.

How does an Endowment Work?

The Foundation collects funds from alumni and friends of Garfield and deposits them
with our fiscal sponsor, the
Alliance for Education (AFE).
AFE's board of directors oversees all endowment monies as a single pool, and manages this
pool of funds for long-term growth.

Each year, a "payout rate" is determined after considering the recent investment performance
of the endowment and the recent rate of inflation. For example, if the endowment balance were $1,000,000
and the payout rate were 4%, then $40,000 (4% of $1 million) would be available to spend on
Garfield. The payout rate is adjusted each year to balance the goals of allowing the endowment
principal to grow over time (keeping ahead of inflation) while providing the maximum amount of
current dollars to invest in Garfield.

How is the Money Used?

Each year, the Foundation solicits Grant Proposals from teachers, students, and staff.
These might be requests for new books, computers, digital cameras, software, curriculum materials,
scientific equipment, or any other sort of good or service that might help Garfield students.

A group of Foundation members meets to review the grants, prioritizes them, and then funds as many grants
as can be funded given the available money (from the Endowment pay-out plus any non-endowment gifts).

We do not think so. The Garfield Annual Fund, sponsored by the Garfield PTSA, is a very
important fundraising effort for Garfield, and current Parents should definitely make the
Annual Fund their first priority.

Beyond that, whether an individual donor chooses to give to annual
fundraising efforts, or endowment funds, or both, is a choice of the
donor. Garfield is much better off if it can provide several different ways for
friends of Garfield to support the school, whether those are existing annual
drives to support the Jazz Band or athletics, or
restricted or unrestricted endowment, or bequests.

Independent primary and secondary schools, public high schools, and
colleges and universities have a lot of experience with private giving, and providing
many choices for donors is best for everyone.

Minutes of Foundation Steering Committee meetings.
List of site changes in chronological order.